Every transition from one technology node to the next technology node has led to smaller transistor geometries, which have allowed potentially more functionality implemented per unit of integrated circuit area. In recent years, server virtualization has emerged as a new technique to capitalize on the increased density provided by integrated circuits.
In server virtualization, the resources of an integrated circuit are partitioned into smaller portions, and each of these smaller portions is then used as part of a virtual server. The resources of the integrated circuit are hidden or masked from users, and software is used to represent the smaller portions as virtual environments. Each part of the virtual server can potentially implement a different circuit design from a different owner, and all parts of the virtual server can operate those circuit designs at the same time and independent of each other.
Nowadays, configurable integrated circuits such as programmable integrated circuits have evolved to include resources that enable the virtualization of resources.